Dubrovnik extravaganza

Whether a fan of theatre, classical music or dance, the perfect setting of Dubrovnik's Summer Festival (10 July - 25 August) is enough to draw anyone to its open-air theatres and stages.

It has been a sizzling summer afternoon, and you've waited all day for a breeze to strike up and cool you down. Walking the streets of Dubrovnik at twilight is an enchantment in itself, but the dramatic thunder and lightning of fireworks and the resonance of music dazzles ever further. This sensory spectacle marks the beginning of almost two months of celebrations in what has been described as "the most firmly established cultural event in Croatia".

The Dubrovnik Summer Festival was first conceived over fifty years ago, during thirteen unique nights in September 1950. It was to symbolise the start of a new creative tradition in the heart of Croatia which, to this day, has grown in grandeur and distinction. Ten years from this first landmark event, the French writer Claude Aveline, who had taken part, was lost for words when trying to illustrate "the birth of one of the most glorious festivals of our time".

There is no single feature which attracts spectators and performers alike to this particular event; it reaches out on a number of different levels. The unrivalled setting of the indoor and openair stages in this Renaissance/Baroque city...